Mario Draghi has defended his Outright Monetary Transactions plan to the Bundestag in the last few minutes.
Draghi promised German MPs that the pledge to buy unlimited quantities of bonds will dispel fears over the euro's future.
The ECB president also began his two-hour appearance in Berlin by repeating his line that politicians, not central bankers, must take the decisive steps to ensure Europe's future
Here's how Draghi defended the OMT, which he insisted did not put taxpayers at risk.
We designed the OMTs exactly to...restore monetary policy transmission in two key ways.First, it provides for ex ante unlimited interventions in government bond markets, focusing on bonds with a remaining maturity of up to three years. A lot of comments have been made about this commitment. But we have to understand how markets work. Interventions are designed to send a clear signal to investors that their fears about the euro area are baseless.Second, as a pre-requisite for OMTs, countries must have negotiated with the other euro area governments a European Stability Mechanism (ESM) programme with strict and effective conditionality. This ensures that governments continue to correct economic weaknesses while the ECB is active. The involvement of the IMF, with its unparalleled track record in monitoring adjustment programmes would be an additional safeguard.
Draghi also warned that deflation is a bigger risk than inflation today, which may not convince German lawmakers who fear a return to the 1920s.
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